Invalid bed



April 1953 J. W. OSBON, JR 2,635,899

INVALID BED Filed March 25, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET i April 1953 J. w.OSBON, JR 2,635,899

INVALID BED Filed March 25, 1948 2 SHEETS -SHEET 2 u w Fu- 61.5 62r7 mas a a 73 INVENTOR.

BY ZWELZ;

Patented Apr. 21, 1953 UNITED STATES OFFICE INVALID BED: John WilliamOsbon, In, Dayton, Ohio ApplicatibmMarchzZ-ZS, 1948, Serialihl'ortfiflzI'CIaim. 1

Thi invention relates to a vehicle for an. in.--

valid: and more? particularly to. an invalid bed or reclining support.that is mobile, although not necessarily so:limited..

Numerous devices-havebeen manufactured for' usezby invalids including.beds and wheel chairs. However, the use of a bed. and. a wheel chairobjectionable in that the invalid has. diiiiculty in moving from one. tothe other, oftentimes necessitating assistance in so doing Anobject ofthis invention is to provide and inclined support that has thecharacteristics of. the usual invalidbed. and wheel. chair,.

the. bedbeing so arrangedlthatthe invalidmay move the bed. whetherlying. flator being in. an inclined position, in that actuating meanhave been provided that are. within. easy reach ofthe invalidirrespective. of. his positionin. bed, and.

in addition thereto it has the add'edieatlure, of eliminating thenecessity of the use of 1a bedpan, so thatthe invalid may beself-sufficient.

Another. object of this invention is to provide a rest support for aninvalid that is economically pro.duced,.that is efiicient, that iseasily manipe ulated by the invalid or his attendant and. at the. sametime to provide a rest that iscomfortabl'e and convenient".

Other objects and. advantages reside in the construction of parts, thecombination thereof" and the mode of operation, as will become more.apparent from the followingdescription.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invalid bedorsupport;

Figure 2 is another view similar to Figure 1, showing the side handmanipulating wheel removedfrom its support;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary, cross sectional view,.

taken substantially on the line 3*3 of Figure 2; Figure 4 is afragmentary; crosssectional' view taken substantially on the line 44 ofFigure 2';

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 55-ofFigure 4;

Figure 6 is. a fragmentary, cross sectional view taken substantially onthe line 6-6 of Figure 2;

Figure 7: a fragmentary, cross sectional view taken. substantially ontheline 1--1 of Figure-.1;

a. bed.

from. plywoodror a suitable composition mate-- rial, a number ofdifferent types of. which may now' be purchased: on the; open market;

Imorder; to; hold the mattress [6. in place sothat: itiwill: not.worlcoif the side over; the angle. bar, a. pair of side boards; IB-are.positioned within. As clearly indicatedin. Figthe side rails I0. uses.-3; 6- and 7, the mattress. I6 ispreferably made from. sponge. rubber;which: provides. adoquate. resiliency without the useof. a bed springandwithout. the use. of inner. springs- Furthermore, a, sponge rubbermattress is desirable for an invalid, in that it is more sanitary and.more easily kept clean. than the conventional fabric covered mattress.

As. shown'i-n dotted. position. inFigure l, suitable. mechanism may beprovided for; adjusting a portionot thematt-ress into the. inclinedposition. Ilia so, as to provide an. inclined backrest for the. invalid.In. some; cases, the angle. of in.--

cllnation may approach a vertical position.

The bedis mounted in. spaced relation from the floor by a frameandwheelmechanism, which will. now bedescribed. Two pairs of diagonallydisposed angle. iron braces. 20 and. 22, only one pair. of which has.been. shown, are fixedly at tached. to the. under: side. of. the bed andfixedly support. the. bearings 24, only one. or which has been shown. Ashaft. 26, functioning as an axle,

is mounted? inlthe. bearings. 24-. A. pair of wheels-- 28 are rotatablymounted on. the. ends of. the shaft 26; so as toprovide asupportadjacent the head of the bed.

Two. pairs of diagonally disposed brackets 30 and 32are secured to theunder side of the bed. towards the foot of. the bed. Only one. of thesepairs of brackets has. been shown. Members 30. and. 32 support thevertically. disposed bearings.

34, .only one of whichhasbeen shown, used in.

rotatably supporting a shaft. 36 terminating. in. a bifurcatedtor forkedend. portion; 38. rotatably supporting acaster wheel there being one ofthese'wheel's on eachside of the. bed.

"Ifhe wheels 28 are each. providedwith. a hand. I grip rim that may beusedby the invalid when resting in; a prone position to. rotate. oractuate thewlieel 28, to thereby propel the bed. The bed. may-be easilyturned, due to theswivel arrangement of the caster wheels 40;. Instead]of using: a pair of caster wheels, one. casterwheel. could. be. mounted,under'thecenter of. the: bed near; the.

foot thereof. This, however,. would result in. a less stable bed, inthat-it" would constitute a: tad-- pod support thati's. easily upset.

When. the invalid' lies on his back, it. istpractically impossible. forhim..to reach and; manipulate. the. hand. wheels 50,. as may be-clearlyseen. In. order to. permit the invalid to move the. bed

with. ease whemherlies on hisi bac'k: or is raised into inclined.position, a pain of. auxiliary hand wheels 60 are used. Each of thesehand wheels 50 is mounted upon a stubshaft 62 mounted for rotation inbearings 64 and 66. One end 68 of the stubshaft 62 is square and passesthrough the hub 10 of a sprocket wheel 12. The ends of the hub 10 arealso journalled in the bearings 64 and 66, as clearly shown in Figure 4,so that as the hand wheels 60 and the stubshaft 62 are pulled outwardly,the hand wheels may be removed without removing the sprocket wheel 12. Asuitable yieldable lock 13 is used to prevent accidental removal of thestubshafts. 'The sprocket wheel 12 drives a chain 14 passing over asprocket wheel 16 keyed to the axle 26. There is one of these auxiliaryhand wheels on either side of the bed, so that the invalid can easilymove the bed around the room or from room to room while lying on hisback or while sitting in an inclined position. The auxiliary hand wheels69 have been removably mounted so that these hand wheels will notprovide an obstruction while making the bed, will not be in the way whentheinvalid gets out of bed or is put to bed. Furthermore, the auxiliaryhand wheels 60 may be removed permanently in the event the invalid isunable to handle the bed or for any other reason it is found desirableto remove the hand wheels.

It is desirable that the bed should be'comparatively short. It may beless than six feet long. Thus, when a short person or a child is usingthe bed, it can be moved around more easily, requiringless space to turnthe bed and obvi ouslv it is much lighter than if the bed wereadequately long to meet the requirements of all heights of individuals.7

In the event the bed is too short for an individual, it may be providedwith an extension 80 connected by a pair of supporting bars 82, shown indotted lines in Figure 2, and seated in suitable sockets providedtherefor in the foot of the bed. Any suitable mechanism may be used forlooking this extensionin position. Various sizes of extensions may beprovided. For example, one extension may be six inches long, anothertwelve inches, et cetera, so as to meet the requirements of theparticular invalid or patient. A substitute extension for therequirements of the individual may be selected from, a group ofvariouslengths.

The use of a bed pan by an invalid presents a problem, especially whenthe invalid is left alone over a long period of time. This problem hasbeen solved in my disclosure by providing a tubular member 90, extendingthrough an aperture located in a suitable. position in the mattress IS,the tubular member 90 being provided with an outwardly directed flange92 resting upon the margin of the mattress surrounding the openingtherein. Tubular member 90 extends downwardly through the bottom M ofthe bed.

A rubber collar or sealin gasket 94 substan-- tiallyL-shaped in crosssectional area, is snugly'seated upon the lower end of the tubularmember 90 and is duo-functionaLin that it prevents the tubular member 90from working upwardly through the mattress and it alsoprovides a sealengaging an outwardly directed flange 96 of a urinal can 98 removablymounted. The can 98 is mounted upon a block I provided with a pair ofparallel guides I02 and I04. This block I00 is removably mounted in abox I06 provided with a door I08 for opening one end of the box. Theblock I00 may be provided with suitable handles H0, so that as the doorI08 is opened, the block I00 may be pulled out of the box so as toremove the support for the bottom of the can 98, permitting the can tobe lowered to permit its removal for emptying, et cetera. The can may bereinserted by placing it in position and then sliding the block I00 backinto the box I06, so

v as to provide a support for the can.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, itwill be understood that within the purview of this invention variouschanges may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement ofparts, the combinationthereof and mode of operation, which gen erallystated consist in a device capable of carryong out the objects setforth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

An invalid bed having a frame, means for supporting a mattress upon saidframe, said invalid bed including an axle, a pair of supporting wheelsrotatably mounted upon'the ends of the axle, said supporting wheelsbeing rotatably mounted upon the axle so that one wheel may be drivenindependently of the other, hand grip wheels attached to the sides ofthe supporting wheels for use by the occupant of the bed, means forsupporting the axle under the head of the bed, caster wheel means forsupporting the other end of the bed, two pairs of sprocket wheels, achain interconnecting each pair of the sprocket wheels, one of thesprocket wheels of each pair being attached to the wheels mounted uponthe' ends ofthe axle, the other sprocket wheel of each.

pair being mounted in bearings so as to be permanently positioned underthe bed, each of said other sprocket wheels having a centrally disposedsquare aperture, a pair of auxiliary hand grip wheels, a pair of shaftshaving square portions, each of the auxiliary hand grip wheels beingfixedly attached to one of the shafts extending axially in one directiontherefrom, the shafts being removably mounted in the square apertures inthe sprocket Wheels so that the auxiliary hand grip wheels may beremoved by axially sliding the shafts out of the square apertures in thesprocket wheels, the auxiliary hand grip wheels when the square shaftsare mounted in the apertures of the sprocket Wheels having a portionlocated above the level of the mattress to permit the occupant of thebed to move the bed While on his'back by manipulating the auxiliary handgrip wheels, the auxiliary hand grip wheels upon being removed leavingthe sides of the bed unobstructed, the occupant of the bed may then movethe bed by manipulating the hand grip wheels attached to thesupportingwheels.

JOHN WILLIAM OSBON, JR.

, References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Ames May 10, 1949

